Decorum
New York: Union Publishing House, 1880.
Octavo. 352 pp. Royal blue boards heavily stamped in black and gold leaf. Spine ends frayed; corner edges worn. Front inner hinge partially split through the brown coated endpapers, showing exposed backing web. Toned internal pages. Title page and preliminary sheets bear a neat 1891 ink ownership inscription from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, with an early pencil marking to the upper copyright field.
The definitive manual governing Gilded Age American behavioral customs. Sold strictly by door-to-door subscription agents, this comprehensive textbook outlines the rigid social guidelines required to navigate late nineteenth-century urban society. Chapters provide explicit, detailed advice on early courtship etiquette, dinner party seat assignments, proper ballroom coordination, appropriate funeral mourning dress, and complex moral philosophy. Desirable for its striking portrait binding variant.
Price: $175.00